US stock market opens higher despite weak GDP

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US stocks opened higher Thursday despite the gross domestic product (GDP) coming in much weaker than market estimate.

The blue-chip Dow Jones jumped 173 points, or 0.49%, to 35,663 at 9.38 a.m. EDT.

The S&P 500 was up 22, or 0.48%, to 4,573.

The Nasdaq rose 72 points, or 0.48%, to 15,308.

US economic growth slowed to an annual rate of 2% in the third quarter, according to a first reading released by the Commerce Department. The market expectation was a 2.7% increase.

Despite the disappointing figure, the weak data may force the Federal Reserve next week to postpone the start of tapering -- the process of reducing its asset purchases -- until December to provide one more month of liquidity for the economy.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was up 1.15% to 1.547%.

While the dollar index fell 0.15% to 93.67, the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, was down 2.65% to 16.53.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $83.36 per barrel with a 0.6% loss and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 0.5% to $82.25.

Precious metals were up with gold adding 0.3% to $1,802 per ounce and silver increasing 0.1% to $24.09.

After falling to as low as $58,000 on Wednesday, Bitcoin climbed back 4.3% to trade at $61,515.